The (formerly) 30 Pound Cat

Friday, August 10, 2012

Friday, August 03, 2012

Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Beat the heat

It's hot, but you can only hibernate for so long in air-conditioned comfort...

Wednesday, July 11, 2012

Lincoln, the cat who was once large and in charge, and the inspiration for the name of this blog, is no more.

...Don't worry, he's still alive, but a shell of his former fat self. He was about 16 pounds when I got him over 10 years ago (May 2002). During that first year he ballooned to over 30 pounds, eventually topping out at 37 at his heaviest (the video below is of him getting weighed at the vet's office).

He weighed 24 pounds last summer, after going from 36 to 32 the previous summer. Blood work was done, and the vet couldn't find anything wrong with him to account for his big weight loss.

Lincoln is between 12-13 years old now, and is doing fine, enjoying trips out onto the patio, putting up with loud kids and grabby toddlers, and big dogs who occasionally try to chase him. Long may he reign in the Henn House!

Saturday, July 07, 2012

The heat is on...

We had a hot, but happy 4th!

Our little firecrackers - Sparkplug and Spitfire!

Matt demonstrates proper firework protocol.

I want you...to celebrate 'Murika!

On Friday, it was another broiler, so we went to Science Center. WHO Channel 13 does its noon broadcast from there occasionally, so we squeezed into the first live weather report!

Here is the video I shot: http://youtu.be/WtO7T8Z880w

Here is the clip on WHO's site (Alex appears in the last part because we were walking into the exhibit as they were filming): WHO at the Science Center 7/6/12

Then it was onto Bauder's Pharmacy on Ingersoll, which has been around since 1922. They feature hand-made ice cream and an old-fashioned soda fountain.

Strawberry ice cream in a sugar cone!

Getting the soda fountain counter experience!

Sunday, July 01, 2012

Kansas City 2012

Fun weekend in KC...the highlights:

Science City at Union Station

Legoland

Zoo

Bronto-ribs at Jack Stack

Cards/Royals game

Thursday, June 21, 2012

Summer randomness

Science center - trip 1 of 2 so far this summer

Chicken rings from White Castle

Pool time!

Swimming Greery

Cheeseburger cake for the dads

Splish-splashing

Sunday, June 17, 2012

Dad is great...gives us chocolate cake!

Dads. They kind of get left out of a big chunk of becoming a parent. It’s not their fault that they will never get to experience pregnancy, the little movements and kicks of the life growing inside of you, the morning sickness, the rush of hormones that make you excited one moment, freaked out the next. Giving birth, nursing a baby. All of those things they have to experience as a bystander.

Dads more than make up for it, though. They get to do the “fun” things. Like taking a child out to run errands, and surprising them with a special toy. Keep stashes of caps on hand for the cap gun. Put “additions” onto the tree house. Demonstrate how to whistle through your fingers. Provide that magic touch that makes a childhood special and memorable. Moms tend to get preoccupied with the basic day-to-day of childrearing, while dads bring the sparkle to it. And that’s what makes them so special, and so loved and so appreciated.

Saturday, May 26, 2012

Closing time

I hate that song, but the line "every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end" comes to mind. Thursday was Alex's last day of school at Montessori. He was there for three years, first in the early preschool program, before he turned three, then the 3-6 morning class for two years. He's had friends who have been in his class all three years!

Now it is onto the "big" school, St. Francis of Assisi, where he will be with kindergarteners through eighth graders. It will be a new step and new beginning for our not-so-little guy!

Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Mother's little helper

I got to put my Mother's Day present, a pastry torch, to use yesterday on some unsuspecting creme brûlée (ok, iPhone automatically did the French stuff with brûlée, for the record)!